Playbill font family

About Playbill font family

Playbill font was designed by Robert Harling in 1938 and the font first appeared with the foundry Stephenson Blake. The figures are based on those of the so-called woodtypes, a style made popular through use on wanted posters in westerns. Adrian Frutiger's Westside is a similar font. Playbill is as rough and ready as the Wild West of which it is reminiscent and its robust figures are a particularly good choice for headlines. Its style is that of the Italienne typefaces due to serifs which are thicker than the strokes.